WOLVERINES' FISHER GETS `INTERIM' ERASED FROM TITLE

Steve Fisher, a little-known assistant a month ago who guided Michigan to the NCAA basketball championship, was named today as permanent coach of the Wolverines.

"I don't think this is any secret. I read it in the paper this morning," Michigan athletic director Bo Schembechler said in naming the 44-year-old Fisher to head the basketball program.Schembechler said Fisher would bring a new approach to the program, but not let it slip.

"I look at it as a continuation of what this young coach has done in the time since he took over the Michigan team in the NCAA tournament and led it to the national championship," Schembechler said.

"I went from someone who very few people knew - and even those who knew me, very few knew me well - to one who everybody in America felt they knew," Fisher said.

"To have an opportunity to be head basketball coach at such a prestigious athletic institution as the University of Michigan defies descriptions of words," Fisher said.

Team sources who spoke on condition of anonymity had said Fisher was the only candidate interviewed for the Michigan job. The move comes one week after Fisher, an assistant to Bill Frieder for seven years, guided the Wolverines to the national title.